Is Gubernatorial Race Over? Brady Says No
UPDATED 11/5/10 7:37 a.m.
CHICAGO (CBS) - The Associated Press says the race for governor is over, but Republican candidate Bill Brady says it's not.
Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn has already been declared the winner of the race by the AP. An AP analysis of uncounted votes from absentee and other ballots shows state Sen. Brady won't be able to overcome the 19,000-vote lead Quinn holds with 100 percent of precincts reporting.
Brady is set to make a "campaign announcement" at 1:30 p.m. Friday at the Doubletree Hotel in his hometown of Bloomington. He did not disclose other details in advance.
Quinn himself has not declared victory, but he is calling his lead over Brady "insurmountable."
Speaking Thursday at Manny's Deli, 1141 S. Jefferson St., Quinn said, "I think now that the election is over and the people have spoken, it's time to roll up our sleeves and work together for the common good."
But Brady's campaign is still holding out hope that he might come out ahead after all.
"I think AP's declaration reflects the precinct ballots that have been counted. We certainly recognize that those ballots have been accounted for, but what we don't know is how many ballots have not been accounted for," Schuh told WBBM Newsradio 780.
"We know there are absentee ballots, military ballots and provisional ballots that have yet to be counted. And really no one has a number as to what that universe is," Schuh added.
State officials have until Dec. 3 to certify all results.
Election returns indicate that all 11,209 Illinois precincts were reporting. Quinn finished with 1,721,812 votes, or 47 percent of the vote, compared with Brady's 1,702,399 votes, or 46 percent. The difference is 19,413 votes.
But Illinois' State Treasurer-elect Dan Rutherford said he believes there's no downside to giving Brady a little more time to make sure all the votes are counted.
"I don't see anything that will negatively impact the continuation of government as we've seen it today. Pat Quinn's the governor. Regardless of what happens, he's the governor until noon on Jan. 10, 2011," Rutherford said.
"Everyone recognizes the difficulty of coming up with 20,000 votes … but there are still probably tens of thousands of votes out there," Brien Sheahan, general counsel for the Illinois Republican Party, told CBS 2's Kristyn Hartman later Thursday.
